Keeping up with the Kids

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Guys, my niece took me to a concert at the 930 Club in DC, and it was SO FUN! The group that was playing, clipping., is one we both like. When she saw they were here in DC, she invited me. And bought the tickets!

I was a bit nervous about going. I mean, besides probably being the oldest person there, I knew we would be standing on a sticky floor in a packed crowd for at least three hours. Plus, the club is in the heart of Occupied DC. I am a person of immense privilege from a (currently) untargeted demographic, but my niece is not.

It was terrific! We went late, at 9:30, to miss most of the opening acts. We lucked into street parking a short block from the club. I was dressed in black pants and a black tee, foolishly thinking I'd fit in. I had on my lucky red sneakers, which probably weren't the best choice, not the most comfortable shoes I own. We passed through a metal scanner, had our hands stamped after showing ID for alcohol (me too), and moved into the big room. An opening act, a solo guy doing something between rap and spoken word poetry, was doing a nice job. My niece, with me in tow by the hand, wormed her way into the center of the mass of standing folks. We had room to move, a bit, it wasn't an actual crush. I was pleasantly surprised to feel fresh air on my face - they have an extraordinary ventilation system! Not like my day, when you had to wash your hair and all your clothes after a night out in the smoke.

The main act we were there to see, clipping., is "experimental hip-hop", according to the internet. They have some very high-concept pieces and even whole albums. One of the albums won a Hugo award, which is a science fiction thing!  There are two guys doing tech things to make noises and visuals on a screen behind them, a woman on keyboards with an absolutely exquisite, rich voice, and Daveed Diggs rapping faster than I can vibrate my tongue. 

From the second they took the stage, I was swept up in the music. I spent the 90 minutes of their set bouncing, sometimes shouting, dancing in place. At some point, my boy's girlfriend joined us. Rumor has it she was invited to hang with the band afterwards, since she's a rockstar and all. Four times, my smart watch warned me that it was too noisy, that ear damage was a possibility. And, more amusingly, my smart watch asked me if I was doing an elliptical machine workout and did I want to record it? I guess the way I dance in place is similar to the elliptical. At any rate, my watch credited me with 8,000 steps for my bouncing.

But by the end, I was very tired. When it was over, my niece and I shuffled out with the crowd, and I was incredibly stiff, and felt all my age. It was after midnight in a happening part of downtown DC, and everything was subdued. We saw police cars (DC, and unmarked but with colored lights going) in every direction, though they just seemed to be there, nothing in particular was happening. Girlfriend said the nightlife was completely dead compared to normal. 

We skedaddled back to the car, and passed another half dozen sites of flashing blue-and-red lights on the way home. Again, we couldn't observe anything in particular, just noted they were there. And we were thankful we weren't the ones they were looking for. But the glow from the concert itself remained! I'd caffeined up in advance, and was still wired when I got home, so it was a very late night and slow morning.

Here's a link to a video from clipping. at a show in Boston last week, to give you a taste. Warning, lyrics NSFW.